The present invention relates, generally, to an apparatus and a method for wrapping selected products found in a stream of a plurality of products. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and a method which combines a binding or stitching operation and a wrapping operation into a single operation which divides the stream of products into at least two additional streams of products, i.e., a stream of products to be wrapped and a stream of products not to be wrapped, whereafter the divided streams of products are merged again into a single stream of products in a desired output order, such as demographic order.
During the processing of magazines, newspapers, books, periodicals or other sheet material products or articles, it is sometimes desirable to wrap selected articles with, for example, paper or conventional band wrapping or plastic film which may be a polymeric or polyethylene plastic film. There are many different reasons for selectively wrapping certain articles from a series of articles. This flexibility is important in satisfying the demands of a particular market or geographical destination. For instance, it may be desirable to offer certain customers or subscribers various features or selected advertising depending upon their special interest, income or occupation. Likewise, it may be relevant to customize products or services contingent upon a customer""s previous buying history. For example, a publication may issue one demo edition for parents of newborn children who have previously purchased baby products, another edition for farmers interested in the latest agricultural equipment and still another edition for recent purchasers of exercise equipment. In each situation, a publisher may utilize various modes of customization such as blown-in card feeding, invoicing, advertising material insertion, renewal notices and tipping, as well as several types of contact or contactless printing. As a result, it is usually desirable to wrap the products including one or more of these items in order to enclose such loose items.
It is generally understood that magazines or other products can be packaged in such a way so as to take maximum advantage of postal discounts. For example, grouping a certain number of products and sending these products to subscribers having a common five-digit zip code in the same carrier route, qualifies the packages for a lower postal rate thereby saving the publisher money. Therefore, it is preferred that a bindery output articles in an order that facilitates sorting and packaging to maximize postal discounts.
Currently, collation and binding (conveyor) lines for stitchers build magazines, catalogues, brochures, periodicals, etc. in an order that facilitates sorting and packaging so as to receive such postal discounts. Each product binding line typically comprises an inserter having a plurality of signature feeders, a collating chain or conveyor, a customizing station, a stitcher, a trimmer, a labeling station, a bad book conveyor, a stacker and a strapper, as known to those skilled in the art. Once products are assembled and packaged in a desired order, the products are typically delivered to a Post Office for continued delivery to their final destination. So as not to create a slowdown in the overall production of the products, wrapping lines are generally separate and apart from binding lines. As previously pointed out, it is sometimes desirable to customize products with certain advertising or promotional material. It is also sometimes desirable to preserve the appearance of products. Customizing certain products with additional material or protecting certain products from damage requires that these products be wrapped with a protective wrapping. Wrapping machines conventionally apply a transparent polywrap material or paper wrap material or band wrap material around each individual product sent through a respective wrapping line. Like the binding lines, the wrapping lines output the products in an order that facilitates sorting and packaging so as to also enable certain postal discounts.
One problem with separate and distinct binding and wrapping lines is that bundles of products produced by each separate line are delivered to the appropriate Post Office and these bundles typically have overlapping zip codes thereby not fully utilizing the overall savings that could be realized through postal discounts. Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide an apparatus and a method which are capable of combining a binding line and a wrapping line so as to maximize postal discounts by eliminating such overlapping zip codes. However, because the production processes between a binding line and a wrapping line are not generally compatible, combining these two systems into a single system has heretofore been difficult to accomplish. As a result, bundles from binding lines and wrapping lines are often manually combined together to eliminate overlapping zip codes. However, this manual operation is generally unacceptable because any postal discounts achieved by packaging the products according to matching zip codes are outweighed by the expenses associated with the manual labor needed to organize the bundles.
Accordingly, the present invention provides the advantage of conveniently and efficiently combining a binding line with a wrapping line to eliminate the need for separate and distinct binding and wrapping operations thereby reducing manufacturing and labor costs while at the same time maximizing postal discounts. The present invention also provides an apparatus and a method which offer a greater degree of product customization. Further, the present invention provides an apparatus and a method which selectively wrap individual products found in a stream of products and yet are also capable of combining the wrapped and unwrapped products into a desired output so as to maximize postal discounts.
In one aspect, the present invention provides an apparatus for wrapping selected products of a plurality of products. The products are assembled on a conveyor line according to coded information. The plurality of products continuously moves in a stream of products toward a packaging assembly which is operatively connected to the conveyor line. A deflecting device positioned along the stream of products divides the stream of products into at least two additional streams of products. The present invention contemplates selectively diverting certain products according to coded information either to a wrapping line where products are wrapped or to a non-wrapping line where products are not wrapped. The present invention further contemplates merging the wrapped products and non-wrapped products in another conveyor line according to a predetermined output order whereafter the stream of products is delivered to packaging equipment before shipment to a Post Office.
The present invention may be further characterized in that a control system is adapted to receive coded information of each product to be produced prior to the start of the manufacturing process. The control system processes the coded information to determine which products of the plurality of products require wrapping. Based on the desired final demographic output order and based upon the information as to which products out of the plurality of products require wrapping, the control system determines the order of assembly for each of the plurality of products. The control system then communicates with the appropriate components of the binding operation and the packaging operation in order to ensure that the proper output order of products is obtained.
The present invention may also be characterized in that the wrapping line comprises a pre-buffer zone, a wrapping device and a post-buffer zone. The deflecting device moves the selected products to be wrapped to the pre-buffer zone of the wrapping line. A predetermined number of products are collected in the pre-buffer zone before such products are delivered to the wrapping device. According to one aspect of the present invention, products to be wrapped are continuously fed to the wrapping device so as to improve the overall operation of the wrapping device. The pre-buffer zone is adapted to collect and feed products to the wrapping device to ensure a continuous translation of products to be wrapped. The post-buffer zone collects the wrapped products prior to delivering the wrapped products to a further destination.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the wrapping line is designed to feed wrapped products to a downstream conveyor line such that the wrapped products merge or commingle with the unwrapped products which were diverted into the non-wrapping line. In this manner, the present invention allows wrapped products to join up with non-wrapped products to output a predetermined order of the products.
The present invention also relates to a method for selectively wrapping certain products of a stream of products according to coded information. The method includes inputting coded information into a control system which processes the information to determine which products require wrapping. The method further includes generating an order of assembly for the products taking into account the filling of the pre and post-buffer zones such that the output of the products will be in a desired order, such as demographic order. The method also includes continuously moving the stream of products along a first path and dividing the stream of products into at least two additional streams of products, one containing those products to be wrapped and the other containing those products not to be wrapped. The method incorporates a manner of merging the two additional streams of products back into a combined stream whereby the products are arranged in the predetermined output order as originally inputted to the control system.
It is therefore a feature of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method which contain the features and advantages set forth herein and which are much simpler in design.
It is another feature of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method which improve the customizing capability for high speed demographic binders and wrappers. Specifically, according to the present invention, prior separate binding and wrapping operations can now be combined into a single processing operation which allows for selective wrapping of certain products and an output of products which contains wrapped and unwrapped products and, yet, which also maximizes postal discounts.
It is yet another feature of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method which allow for selective wrapping of products from a plurality of products and which are particularly versatile and capable of improving existing systems.